Update: After years of neglect and severe damage by copper thieves, St. Augustine’s has been purchased and is now under renovation. All the other buildings seen in this post are demolished and gone. The City of St. Louis cut ties with Paul McKee’s Northside in June of 2018.
You would think that with such an amazing, architecturally significant anchor like the former German Catholic parish church of St. Augustine, the area around the north St. Louis Place neighborhood would be thriving. It is in fact the opposite. While the church is occupied, brick theft is proceeding to destroy any remnant of the thriving neighborhood that once stood around it.
The corner turret store, long stripped of what was probably decorative metalwork, is being savaged in the back as well now for its bricks.
Other houses in the neighborhood have been hit hard as well; this house looks like it has been harvested for some time now.
This house is new to me; it is right on Hebert in front of the empty block across the street from St. Augustine, but it is just about completely destroyed. It is obvious that no one feels the need, or feels like it would matter, to call the police.
There needs to be development happening sooner rather than later. There really aren't a lot of neighbors next to many of the homes you've shown. Baffles my mind why folks opposed NorthSide Regeneration. Most of the lots and some of the homes have been vacant for 30 years. Somebody has to get started. It's time out for us squabbling over the "who" and get focused on the "what". Nobody is going to invest the dollars that it is going to take and sink it in a dying, mostly already dead area. Somebody has to be the risk taker…he showed up and more folks want to fight over the color of his skin and the fact that folks may not have played the "mother may I game". Now it is time to get to work!